7209743364812265548-Aboriginal-Literature-for-Children

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Australian Literature (2002 and reprinted in 2007), lists “communication, consultation andconsent” as integral to producing the best Aboriginal literature possible. Importantly, evenwith such collaborations, copyright should rest with the Aboriginal parties—individuals ororganisations.One book that is an excellent example of the relationship between communication,consultation, consent—and a book that appeals to a wide audience—is the beautifullydesigned and presented Papunya School Book of Country and History (Allen & Unwin,2001). It is a text that has increased its readerships’ understanding and appreciation of thecultural value of Aboriginal authored children’s books.Papunya School Book of Country and History was created by Anangu staff and students atthe school in the Northern Territory, in collaboration with children’s author Nadia Wheatleyand illustrator Ken Searle. The book was developed as part of the school’s curriculumresources, and went on to be Joint Winner of the 2002 Award for Excellence in EducationalPublishing. The judges commented:The clarity and structure of the writing in Papunya provides, to readers of all ages,access to a very complex and complicated part of Australia's history. Developed as acollaborative project between staff, students and the authors, Papunya has crosscurriculumapplicability. Its holistic and innovative approach to learning helpsteachers and students to achieve a range of outcomes through study of the lives of thefirst Australians (qtd in Heiss 108).The development of the book involved, at times, as many as a dozen people producing onepicture, while the text was checked and re-checked by staff, and an early version of the bookwas trialed in the classrooms. The process of consultation between the community and thoseenlisted to assist the production process (Searle and Wheatley), demonstrates the culturallyappropriate way in which this publication was developed, a method that has ensured anaccurate, informative and valuable book went to the printer. Importantly, and in keeping withthe Writing Cultures protocols, copyright rests with the school.The Papunya School Book of Country and History is not just for kids though. The bookcrosses many genres, including non-fiction and biography, and is an attractive coffee table artbook. It is possibly also a “bible” of sorts for the community that lies 200 kilometres west ofAlice Springs, where the Anangu (the Aboriginal people of the central desert region) are thetraditional owners of the land, and where English and Luritja are spoken at school, with thelanguages of many countries spoken at home.It is a book of social importance because it contributes to improved understanding betweenAboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. The work also functions as a history book andwon the 2002 NSW Premier’s Young People’s History Prize. The judges commented uponthe book’s historical significance:The Papunya Book of Country and History is a remarkable and long overduedeparture from the traditional model of history writing for young people. It offers notone voice but many, not one story but several; it builds a living bridge between agesand across cultures. This is a book that recognises the importance of both the visualand the written narrative in capturing young people’s interest in their past; its storiesand images are vivid and captivating, enriching and challenging. It offers nonIndigenous Australians (of all ages) a chance to learn from Aboriginal culture and
empowers Anangu people through the recovery of both shared and divergent stories.Indeed, Papunya is a salutary example of ‘shared authority’ in the writing of historyand demonstrates the educational imperatives of the reconciliation process. This bookis a powerful statement about our country’s past and a signpost to a better future (qtdin Heiss 108).In light of these comments it is easy to see that the audience for this book is not simply thechildren of the school, but the community as a whole, and a broader Australian readershipwho now have an accessible way to learn about a particularly rich region of Australia.The Papunya School Book also won the 2002 Award for Excellence in EducationalPublishing and the 2002 Children’s Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Award. It hasbeen incredibly successful with readers and teachers. The title is carried in hundreds oflibraries nationally (local, school and university), with teachers notes developed for use in theclassroom with students of “all ages”.The Papunya School Book of Country and History also discusses the renowned artwork of theregion, inclusive of the people, the country, the history, and the [Tjukurrpa yard] (Dreamingstories) from the 1850s to the present. It is interesting to consider the book multimodally inrelation to the visual delights of the “Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius” exhibition at theArt Gallery of New South Wales in 2000, which attracted tens of thousands of Australiansand international tourists. The exhibition, curated by Hetti Perkins, was the first of its kind totrace the phenomenon of the Papunya Tula art movement from the early 1970s to the present,and was part of the Gallery’s contribution to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival. Buthow many of those gallery visitors, before they went and after, would have understood thehistory behind the peoples who produced those amazing works? In her review of theexhibition Susan Allan applauded it as “a valuable overview of some of the most importantwork by Aboriginal artists from Australia’s Western Desert”. However, she also commentedthat the exhibition and accompanying catalogue of essays, which discuss the Papunya Tulaart movement from the early 1970s to the present, “made no attempt to explore the complexaesthetic and political questions posed by the emergence of Papunya Tula and the rapidgrowth of contemporary Aboriginal art”.This multi-genre book is a compilation of drawings, paintings (including dot), time-line andinformation boxes, and provides a comprehensive understanding of the history of Papunyasince the first tjulkura (white people) appeared in their ngurra (Country) and the local peoplefeared them as mamu (ghosts or devils). The reader travels visually through the history ofstolen land, killing stock, Anangu resistance and the arrival of white explorers, right throughto the arrival of missionaries brandishing the gospel and “devils in the sky” (airplanes), thefirst school in Papunya in 1960, and on to the 1992 High Court decision on Native Title,which led to the handing back of a sacred site of Pulka Karrinyarra (what whitefellas call MtWedge) in July 1999. These are all significant moments in the history of Papunya, and it isthe simplicity of the book that makes such complex issues and events so accessible to all agesand literacy levels.In the section, “A New Way to Paint Country”, we learn in one paragraph about how Arrenteman Albert Namatjira began painting landscapes, while Mary Malbunka’s painted map givesan aerial view of how Haasts Bluff looked when she was a five year old child, and offers astraightforward understanding of where the school lay in relation to the “ration place”, “the
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7209743364812265548-Aboriginal-Literature-for-Children

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